A Slavic name suffix is a common way of forming

patronymics A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

family names In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...

, and pet names in the

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...

. Many, if not most, Slavic last names are formed by adding

possessive A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ow ...

and other

suffixes In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry g ...

given names A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

and other words. Most Slavic surnames have suffixes which are found in varying degrees over the different nations. Some surnames are not formed in this way, including names of non-Slavic origin. They are also seen in North America, Argentina, and Australia. An example using an occupation is '' kovač'', '' koval'' or ''

kowal Kowal may refer to: *Kowal (surname) Kowal is a Polish surname meaning "wikt:smith, smith". It may refer to: * Andrzej Kowal (born 1971), Polish volleyball coach * Aneta Kowal (born 1991), American model * Austin Kowal (born 1985), American artis ...

'', which means blacksmith. It is the root of the names Kovačević, Kovačić,

Kowalski Kowalski (; feminine: Kowalska, plural: Kowalscy) is the second most common surname in Poland (140,471 people in 2009). ''Kowalski'' surname is derived from the word ''kowal'', meaning " lackmith". " Jan Kowalski" is a name that is used as a p ...

, Kowalchuk, Kowalczyk,

Kovachev Kovachev ( bg, Ковачев; also transliteration, transliterated ''Kovačev'') is a Bulgarian surname originating from the word ''Kovach'', meaning blacksmith. Notable people with the surname include: *Andrey Kovatchev *Bogomil Petrov Kovachev *B ...

Kovalenko Kovalenko ( uk, Коваленко) is a very common Ukrainian surnames, Ukrainian surname. It is used commonly to describe a son of a blacksmith and is the equivalent of ''Smithson'' in the English-speaking world, derived from the root ''koval'' ( ...

, Kovalyov, and

Kovalev Kovalyov (russian: Ковалёв), often written as Kovalev, or its feminine variant Kovalyova, Kovaleva (), is a common Russian surname, an equivalent of the English surname Smithson (derived from the Ukrainian word koval' (), which means " black ...

. All mean "descendant of a blacksmith". The given name

Petr Petr is a Czech given name for males and a Czech surname. Petr is the Czech form of ''Peter''. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, economist and politic ...

, Petro or

Petar Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros (given name), Petros cognate to Peter (given name), Peter. Derivative forms include Pero (given name) ...

(equivalent to Peter) can become Petrov, Petriv, Petriw,

Petrenko Petrenko ( ua, Петренко) is a patronymic surname of Slavic origin derived from the first name ''Petro'' (the Ukrainian equivalent of Peter) and effectively means ''of Peter''/''Peter's''. Notable people with the surname include: Arts and mu ...

Petrovsky Petrovsky (masculine) and its feminine form Petrovskaya are Russian-language surnames. People with the surname include: People *Adolf Petrovsky (1887–1937), Soviet diplomat *Boris Petrovsky (1908–2004), Soviet surgeon and politician *Grigory ...

Petrović Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Петровић, ;) is a South Slavic language patronymic surname literally meaning ''Peter's son'', equivalent to the English last name of Peterson. In Eastern Slavic naming customs its counterpart is "Petrovich". The surna ...

Petrić Petrić is a South Slavic surname, a patronymic of Petar. Notable people with the name include: * Bojan Petrić, Bosnian football player * Branka Petrić, Serbian actress * Denis Petrić, Serbian football player * Frane Petrić, Croatian philos ...

, Petrič,

Petrich Petrich ( bg, Петрич ) is a town in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria, located in Sandanski–Petrich Valley at the foot of the Belasica Mountains in the Strumeshnitsa Valley. According to the 2021 census, the town has 26,778 ...

, etc. All mean "descendant of Peter". This is similar to the use of "-son" or "-sen" in

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...

. In

East Slavic languages The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of the Slavic languages, distinct from the West and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, and eastwards to Siber ...

(Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian) the same system of name suffixes can be used to express several meanings. One of the most common is the patronymic. Instead of a secondary "middle" given name, people identify themselves with their given and family name and patronymic, a name based on their father's given name. If a man gives his full name as Boris ''Vladimirovich'' Kuznetsov, then his father's name must have been

Vladimir Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

. Vladimirovich literally means "Vladimir's on. Similarly, many suffixes can be attached to express affection or informality (in linguistics, called a

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...

). For example, calling a boy named Ivan "

Ivanko Ivanko is a Slavic given name and a surname, a diminutive from the given name Ivan, a Slavic variant of the name "John". It may be a transliteration from Иванко or Иванько. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Ivan ...

", "

Ivo Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...

", "

Ivica Ivica is a Slavic masculine given name, a diminutive form of Ivan. The direct English equivalent of the name is Johnny, while the equivalent of its augmentative Ivan is John. It is one of the frequent male given names in Croatia, and is also pres ...

" etc, or Yuri "Yurko", expresses that he is familiar to you. This is the same as referring to Robert as "Rob," "Bob" and "Bobby"; or William as "Bill", "Will" and "Willy".

References

{{Reflist Name suffixes Slavic culture Slavic-language names

See also

References